Spring Break
Croissants, Leadership & Reflection with
Dr. Daniel Vasella
Jaya Tandon (NE), Associate News Editor
Issue date: 10/20/03 Section: News
The Harbus: You are said to have a very "American" style of management. What do you think people mean by that when they say this and conversely, what is a more traditional Swiss style of management?
Would you elaborate on that?
Dr. Vasella: I have, of course, been influenced by the US because my initial years in the management field were spent at Harvard Business School in the Executive Program, the PMD. As to the characteristics, I would say, the American management style comprises a can-do attitude, a realistic optimism, a desire to succeed, a certain belief that one can succeed and also a certain pride in being competitive and in succeeding, all of which is also present in the Swiss management style but is much more hidden.
The Harbus: When Ciba and Sandoz merged, you were left with the difficult task of integrating two different cultures. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
Dr. Vasella: First of all, we did not let ourselves get preoccupied with past cultures but concentrated on identifying what we wanted to stand for in the present and the future. We formulated a mission statement and a vision statement. We were very explicit about what we wanted to be and that we wanted to be competitive and to optimally exploit the capability and the resources that we had. We did very much, in some ways, respect the past but not to maintain it but rather to put it to rest. There were many people who explicitly embraced the way we wanted to go forward and there were those who didn't and left.
The Harbus: You instituted a number of changes in the work methods at the new Novartis. One of them was the cross-functional team approach, which you once said, had its roots in what you learnt at HBS. Can you expand on this approach and on how it helped Novartis?
Dr. Vasella: When I was first confirmed it was in product management and I observed that we did not work properly across different functions, meaning research and development, marketing, manufacturing and on a global basis - so not only across functions but across nations. I asked Kim Clark if he would be willing to help us to work on that and we did then establish a global cross-functional project team in development. This allowed us to have many more things going in parallel and also to have a common agreement in the beginning about what we wanted as the output.
Would you elaborate on that?
Dr. Vasella: I have, of course, been influenced by the US because my initial years in the management field were spent at Harvard Business School in the Executive Program, the PMD. As to the characteristics, I would say, the American management style comprises a can-do attitude, a realistic optimism, a desire to succeed, a certain belief that one can succeed and also a certain pride in being competitive and in succeeding, all of which is also present in the Swiss management style but is much more hidden.
The Harbus: When Ciba and Sandoz merged, you were left with the difficult task of integrating two different cultures. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?
Dr. Vasella: First of all, we did not let ourselves get preoccupied with past cultures but concentrated on identifying what we wanted to stand for in the present and the future. We formulated a mission statement and a vision statement. We were very explicit about what we wanted to be and that we wanted to be competitive and to optimally exploit the capability and the resources that we had. We did very much, in some ways, respect the past but not to maintain it but rather to put it to rest. There were many people who explicitly embraced the way we wanted to go forward and there were those who didn't and left.
The Harbus: You instituted a number of changes in the work methods at the new Novartis. One of them was the cross-functional team approach, which you once said, had its roots in what you learnt at HBS. Can you expand on this approach and on how it helped Novartis?
Dr. Vasella: When I was first confirmed it was in product management and I observed that we did not work properly across different functions, meaning research and development, marketing, manufacturing and on a global basis - so not only across functions but across nations. I asked Kim Clark if he would be willing to help us to work on that and we did then establish a global cross-functional project team in development. This allowed us to have many more things going in parallel and also to have a common agreement in the beginning about what we wanted as the output.
